The present invention relates generally to an improved ball throwing apparatus and method. More specifically, the present invention relates to an affordable ball throwing apparatus particularly suited for imparting backspin to balls automatically released at a firing point by the apparatus to more closely simulate those balls pitched by humans, particularly junior league pitchers. The ball throwing apparatus insures the flight patterns of pitched balls are consistently accurate.
As a hitter, it is wise to anticipate the pitcher's best pitch. Furthermore, it is a good idea to anticipate at least one type of pitch: the fastball. Reacting to the fastball demands the ultimate in hand-eye coordination. As the fastball approaches home plate, the seams of the baseball are spinning from the bottom upward. With the fastball, the ball is rolling off a pitcher's fingers, causing the ball to spin backward, toward the pitcher. Most pitchers throw their fastballs across the seams, and that is the type of fastball that will tend to rise the most. So if one masters the fastball, every other pitch is slower, be it a slider, curve, screwball, or change-up. If an athlete is geared up to hit a fastball, he or she can easily delay body mechanics quickly enough to react to a slower pitch.
With few exceptions, the most successful pitchers release all of their pitches from the same spot. This is helpful to the hitter because the hitter knows exactly where to look for every pitch. However, the pitcher is also able to effectively camouflage his pitches. Pitchers, especially at lower skill levels, tip their pitches by releasing different pitches from different points. The pitcher's release point is simply the point where the ball leaves his hand. Good pitchers do not vary their release point from pitch to pitch. It is from the release point that one can first begin to read the spin of a pitch.
The prospect, though, of picking out rotation on a baseball thrown from a distance and traveling at a high speed, is difficult. Few ballplayers, particularly at lower skill levels, know what to look for. They do not know how a certain pitch rotates when thrown across the seams, or how a curve or slider spins.
Reading the spin is, therefore, a delicate science. With repeated practice, one can begin reacting more quickly and reflexively. This, in turn, enables a person to more quickly calculate in their mind, how and when to swing. With repetitious hitting practice, one can minimize or completely eliminate chasing pitches out of the strike zone.
With all these possibilities in mind, the ball throwing apparatus of the present invention imparts backspin to the balls hurled from the pitching cup head, resulting in a ball pitched with greater control and stabilized trajectory. This enables one to practice hitting repetitive pitches, mastering the backspin of the most common pitches. Other ball machines available today, fail to pitch a ball having backspin. Therefore, until the present invention, repetitious hitting of fastballs, change-ups, and balls with backspin from a ball throwing apparatus was simply not possible.
There are many existing examples of ball pitching machines and the like. While all these mechanized or manual devices are generally adapted to pitch high and low velocity balls, fly and ground balls, and even curve balls, the greatest drawback to these conventional ball throwing machines is that they fail to impart backspin to the pitched ball. Further, these devices fail to consistently pitch accurate balls due to the orientation of the ball to the receptacle releasing the ball.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,892,217 to Raty describes a pitching machine that is designed specifically to be incapable of being left in a cocked position prior to firing the ball from the throwing arm. In the '217 patent, the ball is cradled or cupped in a "carrying means". The carrying means provides a cradle for a ball in a rest position and an outer end adapted to restrain rear and upper surfaces of the ball. When the ball is forced from the cradle under centrifugal force, there is no backspin imparted.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,045 to Powell, et al. discloses a ball throwing machine having a cocking handle attached to a throwing arm. When the cocking handle is manually released, the arm pulls forward and throws a ball. Furthermore, due to the shape of the hand, the ball throwing device described in the '045 patent imparts little, if any, backspin to the released ball.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,717 to Powell, et al. describes a self-loading, remotely operable and variable portable ball throwing apparatus similar to Powell, et al. '045 and a method. A cocking handle is attached to a throwing arm so that when the cocking handle is manually released, the arm pulls forward and throws a ball. The disadvantages associated with the device of the '717 patent are as follows: the device is not one piece, self-contained and therefore requires assembly in a field prior to each use; the device lacks an automatic and preset release of the pitching arm; and the device does not impart spin or pitch balls accurately every pitch.
The spring type ball-pitching apparatus described in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,076 to Perry is a manually operated throwing device having a limited ability, if any at all, to adjust the pitch up or down in the batter's box. The device is difficult to assemble and position correctly. Further, due to the devices complicated nature, it is very difficult to make adjustments for speeds of pitches. Finally, Perry fails to disclose a mechanism for cocking and firing the throwing arm from a firing point in a single stroke by the operator or a means for imparting backspin to the released ball.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,813 to Rowe discloses a simple manually operated baseball pitching machine designed to pitch plastic balls as opposed to heavier balls. Therefore, the device is unable to effectively pitch softballs and baseballs. Due to its light weight torsion coil spring at the base of its pitching arm, the '813 device is unable to provide backspin, consistency and power.
The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,080,958 to Beasley, et al. is a manual throwing device which holds a ball in a wire loop and releases a ball by knocking it out of the wire loop upon impact. The '958 utilizes a resilient band to propel a simple ball throwing arm pivoted at the base of the arm. Thus, the '958 patent does not provide a counter pivoting attachment for a resilient band. Although the released ball from the '958 patent may be caused to curve, backspin does not result.
The mechanical ball throwing device of U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,494 to Slevin is a spring loaded pitching arm that is cocked by pulling back on a cocking arm. The cocking arm is manually released, throwing a ball in a desired trajectory. The '494 patent does not include a feature that automatically releases the pitching arm at a firing point. Further, the drag of the lever arms' elongated head and lack of backspin decreases efficiency and accuracy of the released ball.
While more sophisiticated, expensive conventional devices are capable of imparting backspin to the balls thrown, simple mechanical pitching devices such as those mentioned above are limited or incapable of imparting backspin and thus control and accuracy to the balls thrown. Further, these devices have no simple adjustment of height pitch control within the reach of the operator, while being inexpensive and uncomplicated in construction. Additionally, besides being costly and impractical for "junior leaguers" to use for backyard practice, commercial batting machines typically pitch balls too fast for lower level players. However, if the speed is reduced, pitches from commercial batting machines do not simulate junior league pitching.
The orientation of the ball to the receptacle or cup for releasing the ball gives rise to two important conditions: accuracy and backspin. Conventional ball throwing devices fail to orient the ball to the receptacle for optimum accuracy and backspin.
Accordingly, a need exists for an inexpensive, simply constructed improved ball throwing apparatus providing consistently accurate pitches having backspin.